Chapter 165 – Adequate Target
The next morning, I teleported to dome 6 because I believed my chances of success were higher in one of the ten great domes. The humans constituted a closed society for more than eight hundred years, and if I remembered anything from my history lesson, it meant there would be an opportunity if I looked for it.
There wasn’t much time difference between the two domes, so it was morning there too. I went to the city hall and sat on a bench in the main hall. From there, I observed the many civil servants handling citizen requests. Considering this was a large city, around fifteen of them were busily talking to one person after the other.
Slowly, I categorized them, eliminating some and rating the rest, until only a few were left. I did the same with those few, using more time to get a better assessment of each. Eventually, I was left with only one woman I believed was the one I was looking for.
For the next couple of hours, I focused only on her, monitoring all her movements and facial expressions. The subtle manner she had to watch people coming to her, the way she seemed to always hope for something, and even the slight disappointment in her eyes when nothing happened. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to catch her in the act but still ended up with eighty percent certainty about her personality.
I waited until it was lunchtime, with the flow of incoming visitors slowing down. When no one was left at her desk, I stood up, making my way to her.
“A good day to you, ma’am.”
“Hello. What can I do for you?”
“I’d like to get an ID.”
“Oh, did you lose yours? I’ll need a birth certificate, then.”
“Ah… I know that, but I just can’t find it either. Can’t you do something about it, please?”
I tried to act cute but she only shook her head.
“I’m sorry, miss, there’s nothing I can do in that case. You’ll need to make an appointment with someone specialized and come with your mothers to prove your identity.”
So far, she acted as a perfect official, handling a troubling citizen with dignity. It was time to test how correct I had been in my judgment. I discretely took out a small envelope, which contained ten thousand lods, a very consequent sum of money, and handed it to her. It was risky but that was also why I chose to do it here and not in dome 82, which I considered my home turf. And also where Ulum worked. I wasn’t sure how she would react to such a bribe if she heard about it, but she would certainly rebuke me.
“I know it’s a troubling request, that’s why I prepared something to compensate for your effort.”
She didn’t touch the envelope and scowled.
“Who do you take me for, girly? You can get into a lot of trouble for that.”
“Ah! I’m sorry, ma’am! I just need a little bit of help! I’m really in trouble here. Please! You’d save me so much by doing this!”
All the while, I kept sending her strong signals with my eyes to check the content of the envelope. She eventually sighed while still frowning and checked around to see if anyone was paying attention to us, before opening the piece of paper. When she recognized the amount inside, she held her breath in surprise, stunned for a long moment. Right after that, she swiftly put the money away and gave me another long sigh.
“Miss… This is troubling… I’ll help you but only this once, all right? You should be more careful in the future.”
As expected, she was a corrupt civil servant. My eyes didn’t betray me.
“Of course! Thank you so much, ma’am!”
“Yes. Let’s get this done fast. What’s your name and surname?”
“Name is Tila, surname is Urtek.”
“Date of birth?”
“47 winter 817.”
“Adress?”
I gave her Suuru’s address for now and she scowled again when realizing it was in 82. She asked me a few more questions and headed to her back office after that. A few minutes later, she came back with a metallic card which she passed to me.
“Here you go. You’re registered now. Since you live in dome 82, you’re affiliated with that city hall. Don’t come here again, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you very much.”
“Go now.”
“Yes. Goodbye.”
I escaped from the place, happy with my success. The amount I gave her was way too much for bribing a government worker of her level but I didn’t want to take any risk. In short, it was too much money for her to refuse. Plus, considering I now had an official ID, it was worth it from my point of view. This would open so many doors to me.
I happily went back to 82’s market to meet with Suuru. Since I had decided not to lie to her anymore, I told her what I did, which was met with her expected disapproval. Nevertheless, I managed to convince her there was no other choice. She wouldn’t want the domes’ police to find out I was an illegal alien and hunt me down, right?
Once this was settled, we used the opportunity to finally transfer the Urtek company to my name. She now became my employee, with a salary equivalent to the money she earned through her share before. By now, she had already reached a point where her imagination was running low on ways to use all the money she was earning.
She had finished decorating her house and didn’t have any special hobbies since she was so busy working to survive. I told her to search for something she liked to do in her free time and chuckled when she answered sex. I insisted on something else since there could be times when I wouldn’t be here, just like when I was traveling to Makji. I believed that hobbies were important to keep a stable mental state, especially when life got harsh.
As for me, it just happened that socializing and trading were my hobbies, which were also part of my work. I was one of the rare people who took pleasure in their job.
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